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First shave with GTB

ShawnF

ShawnF

Possibly Ironman
Hobbyist
First I want to thank Dave in KY for sending me a sample.

So I'm kind of on the fence with this one. As far as the scent, while I don't love it, I don't hate it either. To me it smells like a dirty fresh linen. I can get the clean scent that reminds me of a fresh linen smell which I'm guessing is the "barber", but I also get a "dirty" scent from it also. I'm guessing that's the gunpowder or "ghost town". It's not like a nasty oily kind of dirty, but just reminds me of a workshop or something. I can't really explain it any better and my abused and corroded sniffer can't pick out any better details than that.

The lather whipped up very easily as I was expecting from my experience with summer storm, but the shave wasn't great like I was expecting.
I got just the hint of irritation from it also. Not bad enough to want to stop using it, but just like it was saying "see what I could do if I wanted to?". That is most likely just one of the flavors in it not agreeing with me though.

Now I'm wondering (and this is why I posted here instead of the reviews), did they change something in the soap base in the last year or so?
This was a lot softer than my summer storm, almost like a firm cream. Also, it really wasn't the slick, wet, cushiony (yes that's a word because I said so.
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) glide with the great post shave feel I'm used to from the summer storm. It wasn't a terrible shave, but kind of like a C version of a normally A+ lather.
 
Shame the scent doesn't agree with you. I'd give the soap at least a week before giving it up altogether. That'll give you time to experience the lather a few more times. Enjoy your shaves.
 
I was going to suggest at least another shave. Luckily, I don’t get the baby power smell from it because I hate that. But I do remember the first time I used it I was on the fence, then the 2nd time when I was picturing leather and smoke I got it and was hooked. Just shave in your cowboy hat, that will help.
 
I am pretty sure he made no changes to the base formula or scent mix, he’s pretty consistent that way. With the heat wave we’ve been experiencing it is possible age and heat exposure have played with the scent some. Usually a gentle heating to the kind of temps you’d find in a car will not harm the soap but may allow it separate some. The soap itself may need a stir to get the stuff that isn’t soap incorporated again. To be honest, chiseled face is one of the soaps that I can’t get to work for me if I pull a sample it if I load in the tub I get everything I want from it.

With a few of you saying you don’t love the scent it makes me think the world of traditional wet shaving may be falling apart...it is inconceivable to me that GTB wouldn’t be loved by all.
 
I used a plastic spoon to scrape around the top of the tub to fill the sample container so he would have gotten all of what he would if he was loading from the tub I would think, but I know samples can sometimes not be a good representation of a soap.
 
Dave: I'm not worried about the sticker glue. Not an issue at all.

Bruce: I'm definitely going to try it more. I get really good shaves with another flavor of this soap, so I'm definitely not giving up on it after one try.

Dave and David: (So many Dave's....
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) What are these things you speak of?

Chris: Good to hear he's consistent as I really like his soap base. That was my other thought if he hadn't changed anything was maybe it got a little warm during shipping.
And it's our own individual quirks that make the wetshaving community BETTER! I mean I could say it's inconceivable that people like Clubman, Proraso, and synthetic brushes, but there are many that do. Personally I think that the wide variances in tastes help us grow because it pushes makers to come up with better and more varied products while giving us so many new things to try.

Dave again:
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I just scraped a bit off the top of the sample last night, so I think I'm going to put the whole thing in a bowl or tub so it loads more like it would off the puck. Maybe that will help out a little.
 
So I gave this another go today. I took the whole jar and put it in an empty wood bowl I have. I loaded off of it like a normal puck that way instead of just using a little scoop.
That actually made a big difference. I got the great lather I was expecting this time.

My nose is just a little stuffy for some reason today, so I still am not going to make a final decision on the scent yet. I will say that it's not a horrible scent by any means, but at this point it's not a must have either.
 
Glad to see you tiptoeing into the wonderful world of the GTB! Hopefully it embraces you the way it has me and many others here.

dangerousdon said:
It's Ghost Town Barber dude...how good can it really be...?
Click to expand...

Ouch, Don, you should know better!

Just to add, with the recent purchase I made of the "imperfect" stock, I now own more GTB than I do any other scent. Yes, it is my favorite.
 
Sorry guys. I've been giving it some more use, but it's just not one I'd run out and buy. The soap base is excellent, but the scent just is not something that jumps out at me.
On the plus side, it doesn't jump out at me in a bad way either, it's just an ehhh to me.
 
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